Cate - I understand a home is a HUGE purchase but your looking for EVERYTHING in one package and your simply not going to find it (of course in my opinion.) According to your posts you'd like location, reasonable costs of ownership, something old(er) with some style and I'm sure I'm missing out on many other requirements.
You'll pay what you pay for heat no matter what type it is. I also heat by natural gas (Mass.) and pay a fixed budget of 200.00 a month. I don't really considor that cheap, you talk like you think your monthly gas bill is. What burns me is paying 200.00 a month April thru September whan my gas usage drops by almost less than half. As many other posters have stated 300.00 a month in a climate like NH is to be expected. Cheer up my neighbor in Mass (and relative) heats with electricity, not on a budget. Her electric bill for January was 772.00.
